Tu Casa Salvadorena Restaurant

Never thought I would find such good Latino food up here. Wow. Vibe in the restaurant harks back to my days on the West Coast. Don’t even go past the first page of the menu. The pupusas and tamales were on point! Definitely coming back!

Tu Casa is one of the only restaurants in Portland that transports me back to my childhood in New York City. A place run by new immigrants, serving home cooking from El Salvador which primarily serves the local El Salvadorean community.
This authenticity is refreshing and unusual. There is NO attempt to lure in hipsters with craft cocktails, mini flans and pupusa pops. The service is friendly, the menu is comprehensive and the prices are pretty cheap.
I came with one of my kids and we ordered a few things and shared them all. The pupusas (a signature corn cake with stuffing) were delicious. We got them stuffed with both cheese and meat, piled sauce and shredded cabbage on top and gobbled them up before moving on to any other dish. We then moved on to the fried plantains, a generous dish of 4 perfectly fried plantains served with sour cream, which was completely unnecessary as the plantains were perfect and flavor filled on their own. Finally we ordered carne asada which was surprisingly well cooked with a fresh salsa, rice, beans and a salad. We were both more than stuffed and still had leftovers to take home. On a whim we ordered flan for dessert which I would not recommend, it was watery and under cooked, the only negative in what was, overall, a great meal.

As usual the food is authentic and full of flavor. The owners are as superb as the food.

Of the variety of restaurants I have tried since moving to Maine 4 months ago, Tu Casa was absolutely amazing. The food was wonderful, and the employees are friendly. I came with a guest too that agreed the food was authentic and worth coming back for more.
A parking lot is available with on street parking too. There is outdoor and indoor seating for whichever you prefer. The prices are fine, especially because it’s hard to find Latin places in the area serving up authentic style cuisine.
I would definitely come back and recommend this to people I know! Don’t hesitate to come

Tasty, fresh and inexpensive Central American. Get the lengua tacos! (Not on the English menu)

Ordered pupusa de loroco, pupusa revuelta, bistec encebollado and the Plato montanero. Everything was absolutely delicious. The beef was very flavorful and the pupusas were perfect. The service was great, came in at a slower time of the day. The food was very authentic. Several Salvadorians came in to order take out. A must try. Portions are great too.

No frills dining areas do not scare me. In fact, I tend to be a bit more optimistic when a restaurant remains open without depending heavily on environment or location. Tu Casa proved my point. The seating was simple and sort of retro without trying but the food was fresh, delicious and undeniably traditional.
If you’re new to the foods of El Salvadoran start out with a puposa. They’re cornmeal filled with cheese. My not too open minded about food dad was even convinced to try one when we compared it to a «cornbread grilled cheese» and he LOVED it. They also make them with cheese and bean or cheese and meat. Simple, handmade and delicious. They give you some fresh chopped cabbage and hot sauce to spice it up nicely. I’m also a fan of the fried plantains (of the ripened variety.) They’re sweet and could almost substitute a dessert.
Super affordable prices. The futbol match kept us entertained as we waited for the food. Remember, good food is worth waiting for. They also have an outside seating area with umbrellas which is nice during the warmer months.
A small onsite parking lot makes for convenience as well.

I came in on a Sunday just before the lunch rush at noon. Louis was my server and he was very friendly. The horchata and enchiladas salvadorenas were delicious. The enchiladas salvadorenas looked like two freshly fried tostadas topped with shredded chicken and a cabbage slaw. Red and green sauce were included on the side in little dispensers. The portion size was very generous and came with rice and pureed beans. The prices were very reasonable! Next time I will come back for the pupusas and tamales.

Montangero or how ever you spell it. Unreal and add a few papusas. I have been coming here for years. It’s the best of the best in Portland.

I love Tu Casa! The pupusas, tamales, enchiladas are always perfect. It can be hard to find spicy food in Maine, but this place has good salsas to increase the heat. This is a family run operation, which means service can slow down when they get busy. The outdoor patio is great in nice weather, and parking in this part of town is easier than other Portland neighborhoods.
The only thing I don’t like are the hours– they close pretty early and are never open on Saturdays. As a family business, I can’t fault them too much for needing time off.

Hidden little germ in Portland. Not a nice classy restaurant but definitely a place for good and local good. The pupusa is interesting. It would taste really plain on its own but once you add the pickle veggie that comes with it and the sauce (LORD the sauce), it tastes so good. Their portion for food is huge! Overall, I like the place and have been a regular there already.

Was in the neighborhood after finishing a tough mudder race with a friend and comming from Boston it was our first time in Portland so didn’t know what was good so thought we could go for a nice filling spanish meal.
Now i’ve been to my fair share of Mexican/​Salvadorian resturants and this place, while not having the best décor, had some of the best pupusas ive ever had. Loved how crispy they were which is different than im used to.
Got 2 pupusas and a steak plate. Steak was nice and soft and rice and beans were good too. Was starving and still couldnt finish my meal. Would recommend this place if your looking for a good central american meal.

I just finished off the Plato Montanero and I am satisfied and delighted. I have been here twice and twice I have not been disappointed .
I was the only one in the restaurant at 5pm on a Sunday and they brought my food out in timely fashion. All the food was hot and delicious.
Still trying to figure out if it’s counter service or table service when you order, either way you’re going to get a great meal !

NOM! At the looks of the place it’s a shack. But the food is amazing and really traditional. SO good!

Eager to try foods outside of American cuisine all the time, I picked the right dinner companion to enjoy foods from Salvador with since she’s from Bolivia and certainly understood the menu and provided gentle guidance.
Decidedly casual and authentic, there’s no question this is a family affair where Spanish is the primary language.
Another friend had recommended highly the Horchata, a sweet cold milk drink with spices reminiscent of cookies. Great idea, it was terrific, I will remember this and order it on every visit.
The food was ample and came from the kitchen in a reasonable amount of time. The seating and acoustics do not allow for much privacy so we conducted what should probably have been a more exclusive conversation with the hope that the diners next to us were disinterested in our conversation.
Way to much food for the two of us, we packed up a large take home container, divvied up the the $ 28 bill and were on our way in under an hour. The longest wait was for the bill which never came, I had to approach the counter to ask for it, then approach the counter again to pay. My dinner companion informed me that it is customary to let the diners stay as long as they want and not to interrupt. Hmm, I would have preferred not to have to approach the counter, but overall — not a big deal.
The price was outstanding for the quantity and quality of the food we got, the service was appropriate for the genre of restaurant, and the timing made me smile. The only thing that would have made this a better experience for me might have been a more engaging atmosphere.

I really wanted to love this place. Looked a bit sketchy from the outside, had odd decorations and cafeteria-​style chairs with a tv playing football. All extremely promising things in my book.
The place had a family-​owned vibe and the chef herself brought the food out. I loved everything about all of this, but the food fell short…
I could tell that it was home cooked and fresh but was either a bit odd or nothing special. Per other reviews got the pupusas, which were good, but really just some fancy fried cheese. The fried plantains were also again good, but not «need to go back and get more» good. Vegetarian taco included lettuce, sautéed broccoli and zucchini? Wasn’t bad but was just odd… Chips and salsa were simply not good, tasted like both came from a grocery store. Hot sauces also did not knock my socks off with any other flavor besides HOT. I love a good flavored hot sauce. All of the food just seemed to lack flavor. Including the fish tacos.
Again, I really wanted to LOVE this place because nothing beats a good family owned, mildly awkward, non-​touristy restaurant… But really it’s all about the food.

Great find! My girlfriend is Hispanic and gives this a two thumbs up for their food and pupusas. I live the whole fried tilapia!

Great salvadoran food. But closing at 6pm on Friday nights!!! I don’t even get out of work that early on any weeknight.
Their papusas are nice and cheesy. Adding a little salsa, especially the neon green habanero stuff, adds just enough heat.
If you’re really hungry get the Plato Montenegro plate: huge slice of beefsteak, rice, beans, fried plantain, and some avocado.

Ok, so I live in the outskirts of Boston, where Salvadorian food abounds, and I have several Salvadorian friends who have shared with me their authentic cooking. I am no novice to Salvadorian food, is what I’m saying.
So imagine my surprise to find amazing Salvadorian food in MAINE! I did not think of Maine as a place to find authentic ethnic foods, but seriously, this place was no joke. Their dishes are the real freaking deal.
Our order included: horchata, pupusas, plantains, a burrito, and a taquito plate. Had a noticed the special ‘pastelito’ sign before we had ordered, I would have ordered that too. Oh, and everything we ordered was vegetarian. And also DELICIOUS. The pupusas, oh the pupusas! They were so delicious that I’m getting hungry just thinking of them. Everything was good. And the service was friendly to boot. Plus they had the women’s gold medal hockey game on, so basically, this lunch could not have gotten any better.
It was the perfect lunch.

Ya got a hankering for some seriously delicious Latin American food? Want to taste a yummy pupusa? Got some time to kill to sit around, watch some futbol, and enjoy a delicious meal?
Tu Casa is a local fave and slowly finding its footing among tourists. The staff are quite friendly and the food is delicious. I often get the taquitos or the chicken mole, hubs usually gets a burrito. We ALWAYS get pupusas, a traditional Salvadoran dish.
Be forewarned — this is leisurely, Latin American eating at its finest. You will have to wait for your food, sometimes it feels like a long wait. If you know that going into it, you’ll be fine. Just don’t expect hop-​to-​all-​we-​need-​to-​do-​is-​reheat-​a-​plate-​of-​food speedy service. This food is made, as you order it, in the amount of time it will take. If you’re like me, you just like sitting and listening to the families all speaking in Spanish, watching some futbol on the tiny TV in the corner.
They make their green salsa every single day. It’s wonderful. Also — closed on Saturdays!